Sean Evans and Christopher Schonberger were challenged about five years ago with establishing a video brand for the digital magazine “First We Feast.”The magazine was produced in the Complex Media building in New York City, which, through Complex’s other media productions, generated a steady stream of rappers, entertainers and athletes roaming its halls.“There were all these people we had access to, but we didn’t know what we exactly could do with them,” Evans said.
“We come out of the gates really, really hot. That’s where he met Chris Schonberger, the general manager and executive producer of the Complex Networks’ YouTube channel First We Feast. Jeff Aldridge, now Central’s athletic director, was the coach and took that team to the IHSA Class AA State Tournament, where the Tigers lost to Boylan, 7-4, in the quarterfinals.That Central team turned out six NCAA Division I players and another who thrived at D-II.

“He was always good with words, always writing stuff down. Crystal Lake Evans is an actress, known for Hightown (2020), Summertime Dropouts (2019) and Blue Bloods (2010). Although the process hasn’t been easy, it has been worthwhile, he said. We’d be hanging out and he could spew off 6 minutes of things he had written, kind of entertaining-wise. The kind of spice that sort of permeates the air and singes your nostrils and it only goes up from there through the three rounds. However, after hearing a few lines of the sophomoric silliness, Mike caught himself laughing, gave the boys a pass and eventually joined them.“It was so unimpeachably excellent and funny that my dad allowed it,” Evans said.Evans thoroughly enjoys when fans approach him and share stories about watching “Hot Ones” with their children.“I was at a meet-and-greet, and a dad came up with his son and says, ‘He watches the dumbest stuff on YouTube,’ but he showed me ‘Hot Ones,’ and now it’s my favorite show.
“I remember being unprepared for an interview about boil orders in Champaign, and I felt like I was wasting a person’s time. His guests frequently respond to a question with something like “How did you know about that?” To which Evans just smiles.Evans remembers a story from the University of Illinois that helped make him the interviewer he is today.“I loved [broadcast journalism], but like all college students, there may be times where you’re focused on things that aren’t so academic all the time,” he said. Some of the sauces include Los Calientes, Da Bomb, The Classic and The Last Dab XXX. “But Chicago is home to me and that’s the thing in my life that I think is missing — I haven’t gotten to spend enough time in Chicago.” Celebrity chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay was on the Hot Seat in January 2019 for an interview with Sean Evans in the YouTube series "Hot Ones." “We can’t have people enjoying the wings — the viewer won’t make it to the first commercial break,” Evans said. “We were forced to come up with an idea, and come up with it quick. “It’s more spicy wings, more interesting characters, more teams fighting it out for a chance at $25,000 but perhaps more importantly, the two icy cold milkshakes at the end,” he said. It is a crazy, crazy thing.” It should be noted that in “Hot Ones,” Evans eats the wings along with his guests. After graduation, he got a job as a copywriter in Chicago, but it wasn’t long before he traded the Windy City for the Big Apple when he accepted a position at Complex Magazine in New York City. He would have been happy with a career in radio had that presented itself. Every season we’re working with new makers and new sauces and new labels and that’s exposed me to a lot and showed me some of the ways hot sauce can elevate and transform cuisine.” His friends and family still live in the area and he tries to make it home as much as possible — he threw out a first pitch at Wrigley Field last year.